Pieces
by washed away again
Summary: Eric and Bill have just been released from the Authority to begin their hunt of Russell when Eric sees he has a voicemail message from Sookie.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: All characters, ideas, names, and places belong to Charlaine Harris, Alan Ball, and the wonderful writers**

"_Pieces. I'm little fucking pieces. So many pieces I don't even know who the fuck Sookie Stackhouse is anymore! And you and Bill were always so Goddamn eager to pick up the pieces of my sorry life and put me back together, and I'm sorry, I got a little sick and tired of it. But what I didn't realize is that you still have pieces of me. You have too many fucking pieces and so I need you to come home. Eric, please come home."_

Eric lowered his cell phone from his ear at human speed.

"What day is it?" He asked dazedly. He turned his cell phone over in his large palm absently.

"It's Sunday," Bill replied genially. He, of course, had grown rather fond of his new camaraderie with Eric, feeling finally accepted as one of the "grown-up" vampires.

"Sunday," Eric repeated woodenly, and then stubbornly pressed three to listen to Sookie's message again. Friday. Fucking Friday she had called him.

"Cover for me," Eric ordered Bill, and then hastily dialed Salome's secured line.

She answered before the first ring had finished sounding, "Eric, do you have good news for me so soon?"

Eric could easily picture her sauntering in her white silk robe, so confident in her sexual prowess and that she so easily could possess Eric Northman's affections.

"I have a lead on Russell which necessitates that Mr. Compton and I separate. I will be back in communication in two hours," Eric's voice was its typical monotone, but Bill detected a certain edge that he was all too familiar with. It usually pertained to his Sookie-no, not his, he corrected himself harshly in his mind.

"Eric, I will give you an hour and a half leeway but", Salome contradicted.

"Two hours." Eric hung up and took to the sky, leaving Bill sputtering after him from the ground.

Eric hardly had time to marvel at his poor excuse for a manipulation of Salome before he landed lightly on Sookie's front lawn. He experimentally sniffed, and smelled many disturbing developments but none that indicated any immediate danger.

And within moments, there she was. Standing just inside her front door, her fingertips grazing the screen before her. She was wearing her ridiculous pink sleep shirt with the cats on it. The one she had been wearing the night he had had his nightmare about Godric. The night he had felt the comfort of her sleeping beside him. The first time he had felt comfort from anyone in a long time.

He was on the porch in an instant, his fingers mirroring hers on the screen door. Through the wire mesh he could feel the warmth of her hands and closed his eyes briefly at the pleasure.

"I came as fast as I could," Eric whispered.

"You got my message," she asked. She removed her fingers from the screen and tucked her hair behind her ears, trying to disguise the gesture of wiping tears away.

"I did. As you know Russell Edgington is alive, and Bill and I have been chosen as the good-cop/bad-cop cardboard cutouts in this pathetic excuse for a manhunt."

Sookie stifled a giggle despite herself, "I assume Bill is the good-cop?"

"Naturally," he murmured, mesmerized by the way her collarbones peeked out of the neck of her night shirt. He had always loved the dichotomy of her body, the strength of her muscles, the harshness of her collarbones and hipbones, and the softness. Oh God, the softness.

"Eric…" she started.

"Don't," he interrupted coldly, "I do not forgive you. I have never forgiven anyone in my life and I do not intend to start with you. But I will come home to you after I have dispatched with Russell and rid myself of Mr. Compton's company."

She swallowed hard and nodded, fighting back the tears which were coming to her eyes.

"Please don't cry," he practically begged. The helpless expression on his face, an expression she had last seen on amnesia Eric, made her tears spill over and she buried her face in her hands.

Eric opened the screen door and closed the gap between them. He grabbed her chin between his thumb and index finger and dragged her face up. She blinked rapidly, clearing her vision. He leaned down and softly pressed his lips to hers, and then paused, tugging her bottom lip with his teeth.

"I cannot drink from you," he whispered, feeling her blood pulsing through him almost as surely as it pumped through her veins. He placed her hand over the i-stake, and in response to her confused look, leaned down and kissed her again. This time he drew her body up against him, and she reveled in the delicious stretch of her muscles as she went into a backbend and kissed him deeper. He cupped her butt in his palms. Raked a hand up her thigh. Tiptoed his lips across her collarbone only to grab her throat roughly, and then run his fingers through her hair. He had to re-learn her. The world had closed and reopened for him in a matter of days.

She pulled away from him to catch her breath.

"Eric, everything has gone to Hell in a handbasket since you left. Debbie shot Tara, and so I shot Debbie, and Pam made Tara a vampire-

"Pam did what?"

Sookie swallowed hard and took a tiny step back, her shoulders shrugging up as protection involuntarily, a grimace on her face.

Eric grinned and then laughed uproariously.

"It's not funny, Eric. Tara's real upset about it, and Lafayette and I can hardly keep her in one piece!"

Eric continued laughing as Sookie, to her embarrassment, stomped her foot, her fists clenched. At the foot stomp Eric was tempted to laugh harder but managed to control himself.

"How exactly did you get Pam to turn one of her least favorite humans into an immortal?"

"I promised her that…I'd do her a favor."

"Sookie…" Eric warned, closing the distance between them.

"I promised her that I'd find you. And fix what's wrong between you two."

Eric's smile faded and he took a step back.

"I'm sorry, Eric, I didn't want to get into your business, but it was Tara and she was dead in my arms," Sookie was now the one to close the distance and placed her palms on his chest.

"I'm not angry, Sookie. But I am sorry that you promised something over which you have no control."

"It was stupid of me, I know but-

"Yes, it was stupid. But like most of the stupid things you do, it was done with good intentions." He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. Her heart skipped a beat at the unexpectedly tender gesture. He seemed to process it, and hastily moved to kiss her on the lips when his phone rang.

"What?" He demanded roughly, not moving an inch away from Sookie.

"Eric, I would like to know where Russell Edgington is," Salome's voice was loud enough that it carried to Sookie's ears.

"It has not been two hours," Eric's voice was sharper than usual.

"Where is Russell Edgington?"

"Bon Temps, Louisiana."


	2. Chapter 2

Salome slammed her phone down on her desk with a small, "Damn it," under her breath. She had wanted humans uninvolved with this as much as possible, and clearly, Eric Northman was now dragging his ex-girlfriend into the mess. Not that she wasn't uninvolved previously. Salome grinned remembering the way Eric had turned into a silly schoolgirl the moment she mentioned Sookie Stackhouse.

Salome knelt naked on her bed, then slipped down so she reclined on her side to put her figure at its best advantage. Eric made no move at first, nor did she hear the click of his fangs descending. True, she had had many men attempt to resist, but Eric seemed simply impassive. Unresisting, but also unmoved.

"Is there a problem," she asked, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed so they were spread wide before him.

Eric chuckled, "you expect a man you have tortured with silver to jump at the opportunity to fuck you the moment you turn the machines off."

She smiled, "The men usually do."

Eric leaned back in his chair and returned her smile, "I'm sure they do. Whether or not they want to is another question."

"Is this about Sookie Stackhouse?"

Eric's smile froze for a moment and then faded. His voice was its usual cool even tone when he spoke, however, "Sookie Stackhouse was a pleasurable companion, while she lasted."

"I never would have thought that a mouth-breather would turn Eric Northman into a monogamist," Salome responded after a moment.

Eric laughed. "It is easy to satisfy a woman's desire for monogamy when you are only with her for the duration of your attention span."

"Well clearly your attention span is longer than mine," she replied, slipping back into her silk robe.

"Leave it," Eric ordered, and stood. He stalked towards the bed, his eye half-lidded in desire. He had almost forgotten Sookie and her rejection, and now after Salome's reminder he eagerly jumped at the chance for revenge. As he sauntered towards her, he saw mirrored in her eyes his goal of vengeance. He also saw the combination of fear and lust he usually inspired in women, and was glad to know Sookie had not cost him his predatory edge. When he stood directly in front of her he undid his pants.

"On your knees," he breathed. She complied and took him in her mouth. He exhaled in what felt almost like relief. The relief quickly faded as sense memories of Sookie flooded in. Salome was the far superior blow. She knew every nuanced move. He could tell as soon as she began that she knew precisely what she was doing, that she was a woman who enjoyed this power she had over men, and loved executing it, timing their release, holding their pleasure in her hands. Sookie had been inexperienced but so unbelievably passionate. As Salome sucked in him deeper, he idly thought that had things lasted with Sookie, there were several tricks he would love to have taught her. Except that whenever he was in Sookie's mouth his mind shut off and he no longer had any thoughts. He could not think of the last time that he had experienced it in his thousand year life but he found himself addicted. He had felt more uninhibited than he ever had with strangers, dancers, prostitutes, even Pam. Sookie's mouth had made him feel safe and warm in a way that was foreign to him but he now could not imagine living without. And now, with a two thousand year old vampire sucking him off, all he could think about was the way Sookie had been unabashedly vulnerable and purely made love to him with her mouth.

He slowly pulled Salome back and drew her to her feet. She looked at him with questioning eyes. She didn't dare make any snide comments now; she saw the danger in his eyes. With exaggerated care he turned her and leaned her onto the bed and angled into her from behind. With a groan of pleasure he closed his eyes. After a couple measured thrusts, Sookie once again invaded his charade. Sookie's butt had been so full and firm up against him, the perfect cushion. She would always reach back trying to touch any part of him she could reach. She didn't like positions where so little of their bodies were touching. He opened his eyes and saw the pale, thin woman beneath him and stilled inside her.

"Eric," Salome's voice brought him back. "Eric, you can let go."

The ultimate insult. He prided himself on few things in his long life: being Godric's child, being Pam's maker, his ingenuity, his coldness, and his sexuality. He had lost two of those three in the last two years, and now apparently, a third was in jeopardy. All thanks to Sookie fucking Stackhouse.

He turned Salome onto her back and kissed her, trying to read her the way he could read any woman in a kiss. This wasn't Sookie, and pretending was turning into an epic failure. Ah, so she was angry too. He had seen it in her eyes and he had not been mistaken. He was sure Roman used her frequently as a lie detector, and probably not all suspects were as much to her liking as he was. So he understood her, what she wanted. He eased himself into her and then grinded against her.

"Did Roman tell you to do this?" He whispered against the skin of her collarbone.

"No."

He smiled and sucked one of her nipples into his mouth and bit. Her breath shuddered in her throat.

"Try again," he whispered.

"This is part of my…job description, yes," her voice was shaking and Eric grinned wider. So he hadn't lost his touch. He reached down between their bodies and lightly flicked her clit and then pulled back.

"Do you enjoy it?"

"Usually," she replied, stretching her arms over her head, obviously luxuriating in the honesty.

"Let's make that a more emphatic answer," he murmured, before going down on her.


End file.
